3/30/13

Attached is a picture of the Horologium I just
finished. Thank you for the excellent plans and
directions. I am working on the time it runs fast. I have
reduced the weight to 5#--I think I will try reducing it more before making the alternate wheel.

Thanks.

Very nice work, Joe. Your Horologium is a beauty. Each part of your
clock is so crisp, and clean, and well made. Your excellent craftsmanship shows
throughout your build.

You are correct about
decreasing the drive weight if your Horologium is running too fast. Many of my
clocks have escapements that are not very sensitive to how much drive weight is
applied and a little excess drive weight is not a problem. That is not the case
with the verge and foliot escapement of the Horologium. V&F escapements are
very sensitive to changes in drive weight, and as an aside that is
why, instead of using a standard clock
mainspring, I went with a
constant force spring in the Wee Willie. A verge and foliot escapement requires
that the drive force applied to it be constant.

As you probably read in the
instructions for the Horologium, there are three ways to change the speed at
which this type of escapement runs; 1) vary the drive weight, 2) open or close
the "wings" of the foliot, or 3) change the number of pins on the escape wheel.
Actually, there is also a fourth method and that is to add more weight further
out on the pendulum's shaft. In other words make a wider or heavier foliot.
That could be by adding additional weight in the wings themselves or a separate
foliot addition down by the sphere you have put on the bottom of your pendulum's
shaft (actually, adding weight further out anywhere along the shaft would
work.). You can see how John Hilgenberg did just that by checking out the
picture of his Horologium in my Flickr' link.

Thanks for sending the picture
so we could all see the great work you put into building your
Horologium.